Erica Afrihyia: A Measured Voice in Customer Experience WinsThe Dratech Customer Relationship Excellence Award 2022

By Kingsley Imeh

The Dratech Customer Relationship Excellence Award has become one of the more closely watched categories within the Dratech International Innovation Award platform. It recognises professionals who move beyond surface level customer service to deliver structural improvements that change how people experience essential services. As the 2022 award cycle concludes, the category once again highlights the growing relevance of service quality as a core pillar of innovation across Africa.

From a pool of eleven nominees, three winners emerged based on strict evidence driven criteria. Among them is Ms Erica Afrihyia, recognised for meeting all judging requirements and demonstrating a clear record of improving customer systems across both the financial and insurance sectors. Her selection reflects a body of work built on discipline, data awareness, and a practical understanding of how service processes shape public trust.

Up to 2022, Erica’s trajectory has been shaped by a combination of customer experience work, analytical discipline, and public health insight. She is part of a growing class of young professionals who bridge multiple sectors by focusing on how systems behave, how people interact with them, and what organisational choices improve those interactions.

Her foundation in Business Administration and Accounting provided an early advantage. It gave her the ability to interpret numbers, understand risk, and evaluate operational decisions with clarity. She carried that skillset into Ghana’s financial services sector, where she began her career in frontline customer engagement. At Consolidated Bank Ghana, she worked directly with clients, guiding them through transactions, addressing complaints, clarifying product information, and resolving issues that required coordination with internal units. These early responsibilities sharpened her sense of what customers value: clear communication, shorter resolution times, and a reliable point of contact.

Her progression into the insurance sector provided the opportunity to manage systems instead of only navigating them. At Enterprise Life Insurance, she oversaw customer service operations and became responsible for the full chain of interaction. This included front desk performance, back office coordination, benefits processing, escalated issues, and interdepartmental communication. She collaborated closely with claims, underwriting, and sales teams to reduce bottlenecks and ensure that customers received timely responses.

The result was a measurable improvement in service performance. Erica led the redesign of workflows that reduced customer waiting times by more than half. The changes were not cosmetic. They involved reviewing how customers moved from initial contact to final resolution, identifying steps that created delays, and building smoother communication paths across departments. Retention improved because service became more predictable, and customers spent less time attempting to navigate fragmented processes.

As she advanced in her career, Erica broadened her focus to include public health and data driven problem solving. She pursued deeper study in healthcare management, combining it with her operational experience to build a stronger understanding of how systems influence individual outcomes. Her interest in health systems analysis placed her in collaborative projects that used data to support planning, identify needs, and shape development priorities.

These contributions gained media attention. Her work appeared in features highlighting the use of data for public health decision making and the rising influence of young analysts working at the intersection of social impact and evidence based practice. By 2022, she had grown into an emerging voice in health focused innovation, with a record that linked customer experience, data, and system improvement.

The Dratech Customer Relationship Excellence Award is grounded in strict criteria. Nominees must demonstrate measurable improvement, cross functional leadership, and a clear approach to problem solving. Erica’s selection reflects her performance across these metrics.

First, she delivered tangible improvements in customer service operations. The reduction in waiting times at Enterprise Life Insurance is a core example. Cutting turnaround time by more than half requires more than frontline enthusiasm. It requires full review of the process, disciplined implementation, and consistent monitoring. This single achievement captures her ability to turn service problems into operational redesign.

Second, she strengthened customer touchpoints in ways that improved retention. Customers stayed because service became organised, supportive, and structured around their needs. Her work showed that quality service is not a soft skill but a measurable part of organisational performance.

Third, she turned frontline experience and feedback into improved systems. Instead of treating complaints as routine events, she used them to identify patterns. These patterns shaped workflow adjustments, staff coaching, and collaboration with other departments. Her method reflects a shift from reactive customer service to strategic service management.

Fourth, she worked across teams to build customer centered frameworks. Claims, underwriting, and sales often operate as separate units in insurance organisations. Erica bridged these boundaries by aligning their roles around the customer’s journey. Effective customer experience work requires this kind of cross functional awareness, and it is one of the indicators the Dratech panel emphasises.
Her record matches the spirit of the award, which prioritises innovation that improves how individuals interact with financial and essential services. Erica has demonstrated that operational efficiency and customer empathy do not compete. They reinforce each other when supported by data informed choices and well designed systems.
Erica’s recognition highlights larger shifts happening across the continent. African consumers are demanding higher standards from organisations they depend on, whether in banking, insurance, health, or public services. Long queues, complex procedures, and poor communication are being challenged by younger professionals who treat service improvement as a structural challenge, not a customer relations exercise.
Her profile fits within this movement. She combines customer empathy with analytical reasoning, grounding decisions in measurable insight. This balance is increasingly important as institutions adopt digital tools and more complex service models.

The role of customer experience is moving from the periphery to the centre of organisational strategy.
Her public health orientation adds another layer of relevance. The same principles that guide effective service delivery in banks and insurance offices apply to clinics, social programmes, and community based initiatives. Systems that reduce waiting times, improve communication, and treat users with dignity are systems that perform better and earn trust. Erica’s ability to move between these sectors signals the value of interdisciplinary thinking in shaping Africa’s next generation of service leaders.

On behalf of readers, industry leaders, and the wider innovation community, it is appropriate to offer a direct and well deserved congratulations to Ms Erica Afrihyia, recognised as one of the top three winners of the Dratech Customer Relationship Excellence Award 2022 from a competitive pool of eleven nominees. Her record up to 2022 shows a professional who understands the real meaning of service improvement and has demonstrated the ability to convert that understanding into institutional results.
As the 2022 cycle closes, Dratech International has opened submissions for the 2023 edition of its Innovation Award platform.

Innovators working in service design, data application, financial processes, product development, public systems, or any field that improves everyday experiences are encouraged to submit entries. The rise of professionals like Erica shows that excellence in service is not accidental. It is built through discipline, evidence, and clear commitment to better outcomes for the people who rely on essential services every day.